I think you have the start of a good plotline for a sf comedy.

20th C thinking.

• NATO countries would tool up fairly quickly on a war footing
• strategic advantage is no longer about tanks and artillery, it’s about the next few generations of drones
• dirty tricks haven’t even begun, really
• energy capacity is at this weird turning point of shifting production options and efficiencies, makes predictions harder
• Ukraine’s industrial capacity has changed to a war footing and they now export drones
• a non-democratic Ukraine would be a risk as big as oligarchy Russia

…unless you have watched Star Trek and the like.

The 5200, kind of a modern version of the classic original.

It was around $550 CAD, about $150 off at the time. Search the manufacturer’s website for “reconditioned”, and keep checking as the stock changes.

I bought mine refurbished directly from Vitamix and saved a fair bit. Daily usage, so I wanted the full warranty.

I inherited my cuisinart food processor, it’s from the early ‘80s or so, going strong. I do use a stick blender a lot more, though.

And to paraphrase one of the members of the Frankfurt school: “the role of psychotherapy is to allow a healthy individual to function in an unhealthy society.“

I live in rural Canada, our local (left coast) grocery has the palm-oil-free NZ licorice RJ’s, which is pretty good, and a specialty confectionery in the village nearby has some great icelandic licorice but it’s expensive.

But at 6K km I guess you are on the prairies, so good luck on the licorice hunt eh!

Yes, we have a lot of wonderful adjectives in English. Swear, and be profane, for fun and profit. If you don’t want to use The Vulgar Tongue, then lean on the lexicon.

The black bar really adds no decency, it’s performative and viewed by many as a form of hypocrisy.

Since this is a textual medium run with adult behavioural standards, the rule that infantilizes profanity with absurd fucking censorship is cringeworthy and likely to be mocked or pilloried.

Yeah it’s great how the law is complex enough to criminalize any aspect of your life that is needed for persecution!!

This is a good time to mention how we have been propagandized about the Luddites.

This is precisely the issue they had with the newindustrial tooling up they were facing, it wasn’t the tools, per se, that they objected to, but the de skilling and Disenfranchisement of the way those tools were being deployed by industrialists.

Being a luddite was and is about ownership of the tools and abuse by capitalists on skilled workers, and the disruption of our important knowledge base and skill sets.

OK trankies are tiresome but the comment was on point.

I was once on a train in Italy and the train had a wildcat strike. It was just that train and only in that one location. Everyone on the train was resigned, because it’s part of the culture.

Italy has had a long history of radical communist and anarchists, actually having political status and pushing back continuously. Here we are, trying to make it part of our own local cultures. There’s a lot of work to do.

skill issue

lol at 7:10, a presentation slide in the background reads:

JOE ROGAN

CODE NAME: Uncle Fester

BRAIN SMOOTHNESS: warm pudding

Yes, this is The Great Filter. We fix it or fade away.

Agents provocateurs have been with us all along. It’s an old tactic. I have run into some myself.

What’s new is algorithmic manipulation.

• regular, persistent, angry protests (necessary and foundational)
• small, medium, large organizations in coalition, loosely coordinated, some ad hoc
• pressure and advocacy at all scales of government
• strong, educational and propagandistic cultural surge across all forms of media
• a meaningful conversation at most kitchen tables, and coalition of former adversaries
• a vanguard of shitdisturber vandals and saboteurs to draw ire and attention in useful ways (dumb fucks usually mess this up, the circleA tattoo is so shallow)
• critical mass, then the changes just cascade

This is how history teaches us about change. Read Antonio Gramsci, it’s useful.

It takes way more work to build something than tear it down. Keep it up!

I fear that standard civics and activism isn’t going to be enough. The culture has to shift away from cults and individualistic myths.

Thank you for your sacrifice in this matter.